


maple and honey eyes

by honeypressed



Category: Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Magical Realism, Domestic Fluff, Falling In Love, Feelings Realization, First Kiss, Fluff, Forests, Injury Recovery, M/M, Magic, Magical Realism, Minor Angst, Minor Injuries, Relationship Development, They are so in love, Werefoxes, a little tiny bit of implied sexual content at the end, another fic in which i wrote too much as usual, at the beginning then it rapidly changes, demisexual seungmin, is this cottagecore???? who knows, kind of one sided hyunjin/seungmin, learning about love, look out for the high tension hair dyeing scene you guys
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-18
Updated: 2020-10-18
Packaged: 2021-03-09 04:01:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 15,495
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27078493
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/honeypressed/pseuds/honeypressed
Summary: Somehow, in one way or another, Jeongin finds that the concept of love and comfort andhomecomes to him in the form of Kim Seungmin, the gatherer of the forest.(and kim seungmin finds that he too, loves.)
Relationships: Kim Seungmin/Yang Jeongin | I.N, other side ships too but pretend theyre listed
Comments: 17
Kudos: 95
Collections: SKZ Jukebox Fest Speed Round





	maple and honey eyes

**Author's Note:**

> haha please dont look at the word count youre so sexy haha 
> 
> :D hello!!! if u see me posting A Bunch cause of my fests, just... look away!!! anyway i wrote this fox au for the skz jukeboxfest and i swear it wasn't meant to be this long but you knpw how i roll ugh
> 
> this fic was inspired both by bri spamming my dms and lovelyz's obliviate, more specifically the lyrics of "goodbye to the sad days of the past" and "I'll forget you". i talk more about this later but for now, i hope you enjoy the fic!!! 
> 
> there is some slight implied sexual content in the last scene, starting from "we're dating. jeongin runs the words..." so please take note of that !!
> 
> huge, incredible thank you to the amazing cal (@[lavendergloss](https://archiveofourown.org/users/lavendergloss/)) for betaing this overnight and giving me the incredible after-scene idea, you should go read their fics it's gorgeous and i guarantee u having a great time!!!

_ Goodbye now to the past days that were filled with you _

_ I will forget you forever _

* * *

This summer is generous, Seungmin thinks to himself as he makes his way into another thicket of trees, and ducking under low-hanging branches to step over overgrown roots. It is a familiar path that he’s taken for many years in order to get to the wild fruit orchards that are hidden away deep in the forest. Even just here, along the path that only he knows to the wild fruit orchards, the bushes are heavy with berries and the trees lush with fruit.

The smell of ripe fruit grows stronger and stronger with each step that he takes, and Seungmin can’t help but fill the pouch at his hip with blueberries and blackberries and raspberries before he so much as reaches the grove where most of the fruit trees grow. Yes, this summer is especially generous, Seungmin thinks, if the burst of unimaginable sweetness over his tongue is anything to go by. 

_ I need apricots, peaches, and mangoes, _ Seungmin thinks to himself, remembering the list that had been left on his doorstep last night. He had recognised the handwriting easily - the son of the couple who man the grocery store in town - and he supposes they’re going to make jams or tarts with the abundance of fruit that he will be giving to them.

The wildness of the roots and grass soon give way to plusher grass, soft underneath his boots and when Seungmin looks up, he’s met with the sight of branches and branches of overhanging fruit, bent with the weight and all within arm’s reach. 

“Thank you for this summer,” Seungmin murmurs as he reaches up to pick some peaches, their skin a gorgeous pink-orange, firm under his fingers. It is customary to thank the orchard, as always; after all, it is not only he who is taking from these fruits and he is also not the only one taking care of the orchard. Seungmin does as much as he can, but he doesn’t know where the orchard ends, only knows where it begins and that there is magic in these wild fruits. 

Seungmin makes quick work of his request list, picks peaches and mangoes and apricots - the mangoes will probably need a bit more ripening so he takes less of those - and it isn’t too long before his two baskets are heavy with fruit and he is thinking about heading back. Time always passes so strangely in the parts of the forest where there is more magic, and Seungmin can feel the magic coursing through the trees, carried on the breeze and underfoot where the grass is plush.

Now, following the same path that he had come here on, Seungmin retraces his steps, this time with the gifts of the summer that he had received in return for what he had given to the orchard in the winter. 

The sweetness of the berries still hasn’t dissolved from his tongue after so much time, and it gives Seungmin a spring in his step as he walks back even with the weight of so much fruit that he has to carry. Today is the perfect summer day - hot and sultry, the sky such a clear piece of blue spreading for miles and miles that peeks through the forest canopy everytime Seungmin looks up.

He knows he is close to home when he starts to hear the rush of the water as it races down the river. One of the benefits of staying near the river, Seungmin guesses, is that he will never get lost, and he will always be able to find his way back home. The occasional flood may be inconvenient - and downright devastating - but he wouldn't exchange his home for anywhere else in the world. 

This river is also how the townsfolk seek him. He doesn't quite know where the word started, but the townsfolk had gradually started coming to find him to pick wild fruit and berries in return for money and goods; it is something Seungmin has been glad to do, the requests helping him to fill his time up and explore the forest at the same time. The requests are varied but not too hard to fulfill, and he goes from collecting fruits and berries in the summer, to leaves and herbs in the autumn, crystals and snow in the winter, and flowers and mushrooms in the spring. It is a job that only Kim Seungmin can do. 

Which is how he earned the title of  _ the gatherer  _ in the town. Why they gave him that title, Seungmin won't begin to ask, but it gives him a sense of mystique that he fancies himself having, despite the fact that he really only has a hut beside the river in the outer edges of the forest and has an unusual apt for collecting the gifts of the forest.

Today, however, there is a surprise waiting for him - right on his doorstep. 

"Hey, I caught you just in time."

"Oh?" Seungmin says, smiling and stepping up to his front door, arms laden with baskets. "What are you doing here? I didn't think a fisherman would come all the way to the forest."

Hyunjin laughs, helps to take a basket from Seungmin. "I had reason to see you, Seungmin-ah."

"Another request?" Seungmin asks, opening his front door and gesturing for Hyunjin to come in. They set the fruit-laden baskets on the kitchen counter and Seungmin pulls out a huge bowl to empty the berries into, deciding he'll sort them out later. His hands shake a little as he does so. (hyunjin's eyes are on him.)

"I need strawberries and honey," Hyunjin admits, watching Seungmin bring out two more bowls and set them on the counter. "I'm planning on making something, and I know you have the best things so… if it's not too much trouble, could you get me some?"

Seungmin thinks about the hitch of his breath and how silly he is being. "I can do that. When do you need it by?" 

"Next week, is that alright?" Hyunjin looks like a puppy. 

"That's fine," Seungmin says, and his voice cracks a little. "What are you going to do with strawberries and honey?" 

"I'm making something for Changbin-hyung," Hyunjin admits shyly. He sounds like he is in love; Seungmin wonders how that feels.

Once again, Seungmin feels the familiar rock settle on his chest. "Oh! That sounds great. I'll get your things for you by next week, just come pick it up, yeah?"

"I'll pay you then," Hyunjin promises. "Thank you so much! I'll see you around, Seungmin-ah." 

Hyunjin leaves, and Seungmin's hands tremble. His little house settles back into the peaceful silence that the forest affords him, and he thinks about how he gets so nervous around Hyunjin everytime the fisherman comes to visit him.

_ You've liked him for a while haven't you?  _

That was what Chan had asked him last week when he visited, bringing tea and cookies his husband had made. The cookies had melted, chocolate and apricot over his tongue, but he couldn't look Chan in the eye. 

_ I don't know what liking someone is,  _ he had said then, and it was the truth, though his words dissolved away into nothingness, unable to describe how he truly felt.  _ I don't know, hyung, I don't know how that feels. Hyunjin feels like a friend but… but it's not like I'm opposed to dating him. Not that I want to! I don't want to date anyone right now… it's just…  _

All Chan had done then was smile and hug him, reassuring him that what he felt was fine. 

"You're doing fine," Chan had said, voice as soothing as the chrysanthemum tea Felix had made. "You have all the time in the world to figure this out if you want to think about it."

Seungmin hadn't given it much thought after that. Sure, these ambiguous feelings he held towards Hyunjin might have confused him, but now that he knows Hyunjin is pursuing Changbin, there's simply no need for him to ever think about it again. 

He already knows he loves his friends, and he is more than content with that. 

Writing Hyunjin's request and sticking it up on his request board, he turns back to his fruits and berries, starts sorting them out and packing them up so it will be ready for Jisung to pick up tomorrow. The requests from the grocery store is Seungmin's biggest source of income and goods, so he usually tries and prioritises their orders - just to make sure he can feed himself, and get the huge orders out of his way. 

Sorting the berries is methodical and relaxing; he had thrown the kitchen window open and so the rush of the river water is soothing as he works his way through the blueberries and blackberries and raspberries. Once he's done, he brings out more baskets and containers, loading the fruit into separate containers and stacking them up into different baskets. Then, he tears off three slips of paper from his request board and sticks it over the top container of each basket, with name and order listed on the papers.

All that's left to do is to bring the baskets outside to the table beside his door where he leaves baskets and containers to be picked up, and is also where the townsfolk return the emptied containers to him.

Even just doing these chores brings him well into the late afternoon, and there is something in the breeze that makes Seungmin go back in to pick up a basket and set off along the river, following it downstream to where a flower meadow blossoms. Summer is also the height of these blooms, and if he can get some flowers for Felix's tea, that is another request that he will also have completed.

Following the river downstream, he is careful to watch his step, knows that the grounds are uneven and that he has sprained his ankle on this very path too many times already. The flow of the water is calming and it accompanies him, a bubbly friend, as he approaches the flower meadow and is greeted by the scents of a thousand wild flowers blooming, throwing their petals into the sudden breeze.

“Thank you,” Seungmin calls out into the breeze, and laughs when the breeze blows flower petals into his hair. So much of the forest is magic, and the flower meadow is no exception. Now, at the height of summer, there is a rainbow carpet growing around his ankles and just the sight of the meadow is magic to his mood, relaxing his shoulders and settling into his skin.

Felix had asked for any flowers that could be made into tea, and from what he can see, there are roses, chamomile, and bee balm, which should do perfectly for what Felix asked for. More flowers that Felix usually uses will be blooming in the autumn, and as far as he knows, Felix still has dried flower petals stored away that should still last him a while longer yet. 

He meanders his way through the clusters of flowers, and with the warm breeze playfully getting in his way, he picks the flowers and threads them into his basket, careful not to pick too many roses and chamomile flowers and leave more to mature for the rest of the summer. The bee balm though, he lets himself go at it - after all, they’re pretty invasive and he is certain the only reason why they haven’t taken over the whole meadow is because the meadow won’t let it.

Picking flowers is soothing, and it isn’t long before he decides that it is enough for now. The evening is quickly descending now, and even though his basket isn’t quite as full with flowers as it usually would be, Seungmin thinks he will start heading back. Today has been unusually tiring for him, and he thinks an early night will serve him well; he is just about to turn around when he hears it. 

Something that sounds like the hooting of an  _ owl _ .

Shivering a little, Seungmin turns around and tries to trace the source of the noise. It is not so late that the owls would be out and about already, and he has a sinking suspicion that an animal may be hurt somewhere around here. Carefully, he makes his way out of the flower meadow and into the protection of the nearby trees, trying to place the source of the sound, then - 

_ Again _ . 

The sickening, almost anguished howl of what Seungmin can finally place as a  _ fox _ , and he makes a sharp turn to his left, hurrying through the trees to try and find the fox. He is heading deeper into the forest, and the trees grow closer together now; feeling the worry start to seep into his nerves, he swings his head around helplessly. He has never felt lost in the forest before, but he can’t help but feel a little disorientated, suddenly worried about the wellbeing of what he thinks is a fox. 

He is close to making a huge round in this area when the wail sounds again, and Seungmin heads deeper into the forest, following the faint sounds of the cries echoing off the tree barks.

And right there, at the roots of a particularly gnarled tree, lies a sand-coloured fox. 

"Oh, you poor thing," Seungmin murmurs, slowly approaching the animal and crouching down lower as he goes. "You're injured, is that why you were calling?" 

The sand-coloured fox looks at him with too-bright eyes, and then it’s head nudges towards the wound on its leg, a tiny little whimper leaving it’s mouth. 

“I can help you if you let me,” Seungmin says softly, now just a few feet away from the fox, crouched down in front of it. 

This forest is magic - and so are the animals that live within it. Like the fox can understand him, it tips its head down and up again, pushing its snout into Seungmin’s palm, and uncurls its body so he can better see the wound that had gotten it here in the first place. It doesn’t look like a particularly nasty wound, but the cover of the trees and the rapidly falling darkness aren’t helping him in any way; he’ll have to take this fox home with him.

“I’m going to take you home, okay?” Seungmin says, and then bunches the flowers in his basket together, glad that he hadn’t picked too many. “Oh, don’t look like that, you silly fox. I’m going to treat your wound then you can go back into the wild, yeah?” 

The fox looks indignant at being picked up and placed in the basket alongside the flowers, but it relents as Seungmin makes sure its wounded leg isn’t strained. It’s strangely cute, Seungmin muses, hefting the basket into his arms and following the river upstream this time. His basket, woven with rattan and lined with flowers with a  _ fox _ that is just as beautiful as the flowers it lies amongst, snout buried in the petals.

* * *

Everything feels hazy.

The pain and the confusion and the exhaustion blur his memories out more than his transformations usually would, and it takes a while for Jeongin to register that he is in his fox form, and that there is a sharp, throbbing pain emanating from his front left leg.

Almost accusatory, he opens his eyes and looks at his wound, wants to curse himself out for getting trapped in those damn fae circles - when he realises that his wound has been cleaned and bound with bandages, wrapped so neatly that it feels like the work of a medic. Curiously, he lifts his head and looks around him, taking in the surroundings around him. 

It looks like he is in someone’s house, all brick and wood and warmth, lined with pots of flowers and herbs and barrels of fruits and vegetables. If he is going to be really picky, it is more of a one-room cabin than any house with rooms of a sort - he has been placed on some cushions beside a bed tucked into one corner of the cabin; from this vantage point, he can see the small seating area, the kitchen and the eating table. Windows line the front of the house, framed by pretty curtains, and the bright summer sunshine streams into the cabin, giving everything a golden sheen. 

Now, if he could remember  _ who  _ had brought him here, that would be extremely helpful. 

Sitting up a little, Jeongin stretches, careful not to aggravate his wound, and tries to recall some of the memories that have become foggy in his head over the night. He definitely remembers falling into the fae circle and injuring his leg then, and then he had settled down by some trees near the flower meadow… and then - what? 

Slowly, his memories return to him, as memories are bound to do. 

Images of soft brown hair and caramel eyes; the hesitant touch of fingers, human-warm to his fur; the smell of flowers under his nose; the gentle swaying of woven rattan carrying him to another home. Jeongin opens his eyes again, and if he were human he would be smiling already, helpless to it. 

The gatherer has saved him. 

Jeongin has only ever heard of the tales about the gatherer. For a human, the gatherer has made quite a name for himself among the forest folk. They speak in riddles of the human who thanks the orchard and the meadow and the river and lives on borrowed land in a hut; they spin tales to the young ones about the man who is kind and benevolent and who will help no matter the return; they mark out paths and lands and areas for this one human to safely pass through because the gatherer has a name and he too is part of the forest now. 

“Oh, you’re up!” 

The soft voice of the gatherer breaks Jeongin out of his reverie, and he looks up to find the gatherer coming closer to him, smelling of the summer breeze and soil. 

“Your wound was pretty bad,” Seungmin says, kneeling down until he’s sitting facing Jeongin, “you might have to stay with me for a few weeks.” Then, like he knows Jeongin isn’t quite what meets the eye, he cocks his head and smiles at him. “I haven’t seen foxes of your colour around this area before. Are you part of the magic in the forest, I wonder? I don’t think you could reply to me…” 

The gatherer is right. He isn’t quite all that met the eye - he is a werefox, and could transform between a fox and a human at will. Of course, it is not like he can  _ tell _ the gatherer this; he cannot transform when he is injured, which means a few long weeks of being stuck as a fox.

It is not as bad as it could be, Jeongin muses. The only reason he is injured was because he got trapped in some damn fae circle and those always hurt - what on earth were the fae trying to trap? He is going to have a word from them when he heals from this wound. With the gatherer at least, he’ll heal from the wound faster, and have better shelter too, if the gatherer lets him stay for the whole period. 

“I’m glad it’s summer though,” Seungmin says, now standing up and heading into the small kitchen, peering out the windows and washing his hands, water sunlight warm, “it won’t be as hard for your wound to heal.” He turns around then, and his smile reminds Jeongin of something. “There is magic in the summer breeze, I hear.” 

Jeongin finally places what Seungmin’s smile reminds him of when Seungmin brings him some food and water.

Like the gentlest of sunshines peeking out from behind the clouds, gathering on a patch of grass, honey-like - slow and sweet. It reminds him of the little things he sees in the forest that are always a delight; the passings of a birdsong, the tiny mushrooms growing up from damp bark, the small flowers that grow among the forest floor.

The gatherer - lives up to his reputation, and so much more.

* * *

Jeongin desperately wants to be able to talk. Sure, he misses being able to talk, but more than that, he is itching to respond to the gatherer, to ask him questions and to find out more about him. It is not like his existence is a secret, but there is just so little about him that Jeongin knows.

It is the second week of living with the gatherer and yet he still knows so little about him. His leg hasn’t healed enough for him to follow the gatherer out the cabin, or even wander around the house without needing to rest every other minute. Therefore, all he can do is watch, and watch he does. 

The gatherer seems to be pretty busy, waking early every morning only to go out and disappear for an hour or two; when he comes back, he has vials of morning dew - Jeongin knows this because the gatherer tells him as much. Then, baskets of flowers and pouches of fruits, all washed and cleaned and cut and placed into different baskets and containers to be left outside.

“These are orders from the townsfolk,” Seungmin says one day, as if he knows what Jeongin is curious about. “I get some things from the forest in return for the things from the town.”

That surprises Jeongin. The forest may give its items to its inhabitants, but the forest has also allowed the gatherer to collect these things and give them away? He supposes that that’s where the name of  _ the gatherer _ came from, and realises that maybe even the forest has favourites. 

Still, as he looks at the gatherer, singing something quietly under his breath, he can’t help but feel as if the gatherer has wanted company for a while already.

_ Are you lonely? _ Jeongin wants to ask each time Seungmin starts explaining what he’s doing or going through the tasks he has to do today.  _ I wish I could talk to you so you would be less lonely _ . As of yet, he still can’t transform back into a human and so he can’t talk to the gatherer - but he can nudge at him to at least let him know that he’s listening.

“I think you know what I’m saying,” Seungmin says that evening, holding a bunch of sunflowers in his arms and standing by the kitchen sink. He’s backed by the late afternoon sun, a soft golden light that makes him look less human and more like something magical, something from deep within the forest. “Otherwise I wouldn’t be talking to you this much, I think. Does that make sense?”

_ Silly human _ , Jeongin wants to say, but he can’t even walk properly as he is right now.  _ Of course I can understand what you’re saying _ .

He understands the gatherer a bit more when someone knocks on his door the next day. It is late in the morning, and people usually never knock, so Jeongin is intrigued when Seungmin opens the door to let a young man in, hair bleached light with sun and salt; Jeongin thinks he lives near the sea, able to smell the unfamiliar scent easily, chalk and cheese to the scents of the forest.

“You’re here for the strawberries and honey right?” Seungmin asks, already heading to the kitchen to pick a few things up. 

“Yeah, I hope it wasn’t too much trouble,” The man says, smiling. “Oh! Did you rescue this fox? It’s so cute!”

Jeongin scowls a little when the man comes over to pet his head softly, not liking being touched in general; he makes an exception for the gatherer because well, he is  _ the gatherer _ , and he did save him, so he has his reasons. The man stands back up when Seungmin calls for him, hands heavy with a basket of strawberries and honey.

“Strawberries from the hillside, and honey from the forest,” Seungmin says, handing the basket over. “I hope it’s good enough to make… whatever it is that you’re making, Hyunjinnie.”

So the man’s name is Hyunjin, Jeongin muses. He watches as Hyunjin thanks Seungmin, then says that he has left both money and food on the table outside, clearly knowing that Seungmin has certain ways of organising his food and where he wants them. He doesn’t have much animosity towards the young man, but there is something uncomfortable stirring in his chest when he sees Seungmin’s expression change as Hyunjin starts talking about what he’s planning to do with the items. 

“I’m going to make a cake,” Hyunjin says, and then launches into a detailed plan of how he’s going to make it, apparently with advice from someone called Felix, but Jeongin isn’t concentrated on that. He is more worried about the carefully neutral expression Seungmin has. 

He hasn’t stayed with the gatherer for long, but he does know enough to conclude that Seungmin is hiding something. 

It isn’t until Hyunjin leaves that the expression crumbles, and Seungmin looks lost, slightly confused. He closes the front door and comes to sit down on his bed, hand reaching down to pet Jeongin’s head lightly. Worried, Jeongin nuzzles up into Seungmin’s palm and makes a low whine in his throat, trying to provide a little comfort for whatever it is that Seungmin is upset about. 

“Oh, don’t worry about me,” Seungmin murmurs, stroking a knuckle over Jeongin’s head. “It’s just… I’m always so confused when Hyunjin comes around, I don’t know why.”

He takes his hand away then - Jeongin wants to complain about it but then realises he’s stuck in his fox form - and pulls his legs up to sit cross-legged on his bed, hands pressed palm down between them. Now, he even smells like he is upset, and Jeongin tries his best to shuffle over closer despite his injured leg.

“I don’t know what I’m feeling… I treasure him as my friend but at the same time… I don’t want him to date someone else. Is it because I like him? But if I did like him I would know, wouldn’t I? It’s so confusing, I wish I knew what these feelings are…” Seungmin says all of this in one breath in a too-small voice, and Jeongin wishes he was human just so he could hug Seungmin and provide comfort in that tiny way. 

“Don’t hurt yourself!” Seungmin gasps when he sees that Jeongin is trying to shuffle closer to him. “You little thing, you’re injured, don’t move!”

Jeongin yowls at him. 

“Oh, were you trying to comfort me, little fox? I’m sorry, I’m not that upset but… I think I just need some time to figure this out, maybe talk to someone… oh! Would you like to meet Chan-hyung and Felix, little fox? I can ask them to come around next week or so, and they can pick up their orders too.” Seungmin looks happier with these thoughts, so Jeongin nods and bumps his nose against Seungmin’s knee, letting the gatherer to stand up and sort out his baskets again, reaching for papers and pen to write a letter.

_ I hope you find someone that won’t make you this upset _ , Jeongin thinks, watching Seungmin scrawl dark ink over creamy paper.  _ Even the forest thinks you deserve nice things, so you should have someone nice too. _

He doesn’t think about the tug of his heart when Seungmin looks over and smiles at him, soft sunshine. He doesn’t think about how much he wants to be a human again just to talk to Seungmin. He doesn’t think about how he’s addressing him by name so much more often, not just  _ the gatherer _ anymore.

He doesn’t think about all of that.

It is too early to think about these things, anyway.

* * *

It is around the fourth week or so that Jeongin starts to be able to walk around the cabin without feeling too much strain in his leg. That also means that he is able to greet Seungmin and actually go outside with him too, and there is so much delight in Seungmin’s voice when he sees that the fox is able to walk again. 

“This is wonderful,” Seungmin says, smiling. “You’re healing really, really well. Felix and Chan-hyung are going to be so excited about this!”

Jeongin looks up at that, cocking his head.

“Oh, did I forget to tell you?” Seungmin coos, bending down and petting Jeongin’s head. “I’m sorry, little fox, it must have slipped my mind. They’re coming over after lunch today, and Felix said that he’s bringing something special.” 

Seungmin sounds so animated, Jeongin thinks; he likes Seungmin in all his forms, but right now, with his flushed cheeks and bright eyes from cleaning up the cabin and setting out fresh flowers, he looks especially pretty. Then - Jeongin berates himself. What is he doing? Seungmin is just someone who saved him, he shouldn’t be thinking of him like this, not when Seungmin doesn’t even know his true nature.

Still, these thoughts linger in his mind all throughout the day, and it is only the arrival of Seungmin’s friends that helps to banish these thoughts as curiosity and inquisitivity replace them.

“Seungminnie!” One of the pair cries when the door swings open, and he hugs Seungmin tightly. When he lets go, Jeongin sees a wide smile and silvery hair. “How have you been, it’s been so long since I’ve visited!”

“Felix,” Seungmin giggles, “it’s nice to see you too! Come on in, you too, Channie-hyung.”

“Lixie made you something special,” The other man - Chan, Jeongin remembers - says, setting down a basket, frayed but well-mended, on Seungmin’s table. “He didn’t tell me what he used in the food because he said it was a secret, but it looks gorgeous and it tastes amazing. Everything Lix does is.” He smiles then, and when he pulls Felix into his side, Jeongin notices their matching rings. 

“You didn’t need to,” Seungmin says, but Felix is already pulling out flasks and a container. 

“Butterfly pea flower tea!” Felix reveals proudly, gently shaking his flask. “You’re going to love the colour, Seungminnie - and these are maple and peach muffins, something new I tried to make. Where are the cups and plates?” 

As Seungmin and Chan fuss over the plates and cups, Felix sets out the food and while he does so, catches Jeongin’s eye in the process.

“Oh! Is this the fox that you saved the other day?” Felix cries, crossing the few steps to where Jeongin lies beside the bed on a makeshift cushion of soft towels. “It’s such a sweet little thing! How’s your leg, foxy? Does it still hurt?”

Jeongin lets Felix coo at him and pet his head lightly - only because Felix feels like the brighter counterpart of Seungmin. If Seungmin was a gentle late afternoon sun, Felix would be the high noon light, Jeongin thinks; he has spent too many days in these forests that he has started comparing people to the weather, it seems. He could walk over to where they’re plating tea, but he’s content with staying here and watching Seungmin get fussed over by the couple.

“Look at this,” Felix says, and he’s got a few glasses in front of him. In one glass, there are slices of lemon and something that looks like honey; the second has mint and red petals all mixed together; and the last one has a stick of cinnamon and ginger slices. He drops a few ice cubes into each of the glasses - it is still summer, after all - and from his flask, he pours out the most stunning blue-coloured tea, coloured like the forest lake itself.

Seungmin, understandably, gasps at this, marvelling at the way the blue tea trickles through the gaps between the ice cubes and down the cinnamon stick until the glass is filled. 

“This is… butterfly pea flower tea you said? It’s so pretty!” 

“Just wait until you see this,” Felix says, grinning. 

Before Seungmin can ask what he means by that, Felix starts pouring tea into the glass with lemon and honey. And right before his eyes, the brilliant blue of the tea starts changing colour when it hits the lemon slices, turning into a deep purple that reminds Seungmin of the night skies. As Felix pours the tea, the colour changes from the purple back to its original blue, and there is the night sky in a glass in front of their eyes.

“Another one!” Felix says, knowing Seungmin’s about to gush about it. “Look at this -” And he pours the tea into the last glass, the one with the mint and petals.

This time, the tea changes colour again - not to purple, but to a vivid red; the mint and petals rush to the top in a swirl, and then the original blue and the new red are twisting around each other, coming together in a more mellow pink colour. It is like Felix has made magic right in front of their eyes. 

“Oh my  _ god _ ,” Seungmin breathes, and then they’re all exclaiming about the tea and the changes of the colour.

Jeongin has to smile to himself as he watches Felix add the finishing touches of pomegranates on top of the cold tea. He knows about the butterfly pea flowers and what causes their colour to change; the fae especially like this flower because it fares well in their spells and salves - and even for humans, there is magic in these flowers. Satisfied that Seungmin is not in any immediate danger, he stretches out and settles down, the heat of the late afternoon sun making him drowsy, and the steady conversation that the humans keep up only makes him sleepier.

Faintly, as he lingers between the realms of lucidity and dreams, he hears snippets of their conversation. Their voices sound like honey and cinnamon, earthy but fresh.

“You said you wanted to talk to us about something?” This voice, Jeongin doesn’t quite recognise yet, but he has an inkling that the owner of this voice is trustworthy. 

“You can tell us anything, we’ll try to help you,” Another voice chimes in; this voice sounds bubbly, just as warm as the first voice.

“I don’t know what to do about my… feelings? I guess you can call them feelings - for Hyunjin.” This voice sounds the most familiar; Jeongin can’t quite place why this voice makes him both comforted and nervous at the same time. 

“Do you like him?” 

“I - it’s not like that. It’s that… I don’t  _ know _ if I like him or not.”

“Have you met anyone you’ve liked before?”

“Well - no. No, I haven’t. I just - I’m confused, I don’t know if my feelings for Hyunjin are romantic, or if I’m just overthinking these things.”

“It’s okay to be confused, but if it’s hurting you, maybe you should talk about these things with Hyunjin? Like - okay, do you want to kiss Hyunjin?” 

“What? No, not really.”

“Would you like to call him your boyfriend?” 

“Ah…. I’m not opposed to it? But it’s not like I  _ want _ to… maybe I just like the idea of dating someone?”

“You can take your time to figure these things out, Seungmin-ah. No one’s rushing you, and we’ll all be here for you, even if you don’t figure these things out.”

There’s a long, long pause. 

Jeongin falls asleep. 

(but not quite. he hears it right before he falls asleep, lulled warm by the sunshine and the honey.  _ thank you, _ the heart-familiar voice says,  _ thank you. i think - it’s a bit clearer now. _

_ i am going to love you _ , jeongin thinks, deep in his subconscious where his dreams and reality meld together into one world.  _ i will love you from here on _ .)

Three empty glasses and a plate full of crumbs stand on the table; the sunshine gradually becomes cooler.

* * *

It is past the six weeks mark and Jeongin is fully recovered. Still, Seungmin insists on him staying for a while longer, worried that Jeongin might overstrain himself. As a result, wherever Jeongin goes, Seungmin follows - not that Jeongin  _ minds _ in the least. It was just nice to finally be able to go out again without his leg hurting, and he starts to hunt small prey around Seungmin’s cabin, lessening the burden of Seungmin’s shoulders.

“I think you need a name,” Seungmin says suddenly one evening. The sunshine today is orange and warm, and it dyes Seungmin’s caramel hair like the tangerines he had gathered this morning. It reminds Jeongin that autumn is fast approaching.

Jeongin looks up at that, wants to laugh; he does already have a name, but it’s not like he can  _ tell _ Seungmin about this. Instead, he just shuffles over a little closer and nudges at Seungmin’s arm, indicating that he agrees. 

“You understand what I’m saying, hmm?” Seungmin asks, and when he pets Jeongin’s fur, his touch is affectionate. “I’ve never seen foxes with your colouring, you know, it’s like sand... ” He trails off as he strokes over Jeongin’s back, and Jeongin thinks he knows what is coming. 

“What do you think if I called you Molae?” Seungmin murmurs, and his hand moves to rub between Jeongin’s ears, fond. 

Jeongin yowls a little and pushes his head into Seungmin’s palm. He doesn’t mind the name; he had kind of been expecting to be called something similar, since Seungmin seems to be fascinated with the colour of his fur. He can’t exactly blame Seungmin for this - all the foxes in this forest are coloured like the autumn, and there aren’t many werefoxes around this area anyway.

“You like the name, Molae-yah?” Seungmin laughs, and then he presses a gentle kiss to the top of Jeongin’s head. “I’ll go get you some food, then we’ll look at your leg, yeah? I think you’re healing pretty well, but let’s continue to take care of it.” 

Jeongin wonders how long Seungmin will let him stay; if Seungmin will even let him stay any longer if he finds out that he’s a werefox, and not just a fox who has a different coat colour and seems to understand what’s been said. But for now - he lets Seungmin pet his fur and waits for Seungmin to deem his wound healed. After that, he’ll think about what to do. 

(but he isn’t thinking that night when he shifts into a human for the first time. at first it was just to check that he  _ could _ actually shift back, and the relief he had felt when he took his human form was unparalleled - 

he just wasn’t expecting for his  _ feelings _ to hit him like a human, hundred-fold over and piercing right through his chest.

all the feelings he had kept in his heart as a fox for the past six weeks, they all come to him as a human now, and he stands beside the window in the kitchen, trembling as his mind and heart races. he had forgotten why he needed to switch between fox and human frequently, and now as his human mind starts catching up with everything that has happened, he can only draw one conclusion - 

that he loves kim seungmin, the gatherer.

and so he isn’t thinking when he approaches the gatherer who is deep in his sleep; he isn’t thinking when he takes the gatherer’s hand in his; he isn’t thinking when he drops to his knees and presses a kiss to the gatherer’s knuckles.

the promise he had made to himself deep in his subconscious rises to the top, branded to the forefront of his mind.

_ i am going to love you. _ )

* * *

By now, Jeongin is passed needing help and shelter, yet Seungmin still has not kicked him out. It has already been two months since Seungmin first rescued him.

“I hope you come back, Molae-yah,” Seungmin sometimes says deep in the night before Jeongin leaves for his nightly hunts. “Stay safe.” 

Jeongin doesn’t know  _ why _ Seungmin says these things, but he refuses to allow himself to hope. Seungmin doesn’t even know that he’s a werefox, and he thinks Seungmin just wants companionship. There is the pressing issue of him needing to find the faes to sort out if he has been tagged by the fae circle or not, and his nightly hunts have also been in part to find where the fae have moved their courts to. They aren’t near the flower meadow or above the wild fruit orchard; he will have to try somewhere else.

But that wasn’t the point - the point was that he was more than healed, and he still has not told Seungmin that he was a werefox. He thinks Seungmin deserves this, at the very least, for all the help that Seungmin has given him.

Even so, he can’t help but think of the sleepy smile and slurred  _ come home safe _ that Seungmin murmurs when he goes out to hunt at midnight.

(he’s in love, he just doesn’t want to acknowledge that yet.)

Sometimes, Jeongin returns in the afternoons after his hunts to sprawl in the patches of sunlight that Seungmin’s cabin affords him with the multitude of windows, and Seungmin likes to lay down and pet him like that. Sometimes, he returns in the recesses of the night when Seungmin is already fast asleep, having trekked through the forest to try and seek out the fae and ask what they want with him.

And tonight, Seungmin looks particularly soft.

Jeongin knows that Seungmin has had a long day of filling orders and travelling through the forest to get the items he needs, and that Hyunjin had visited again. He doesn’t know if Seungmin had ever resolved his feelings for Hyunjin, but he doesn’t like how emotionally exhausted Seungmin is every time Hyunjin comes over.

Especially not when Hyunjin had visited to say that he had a boyfriend now.

He couldn’t see Seungmin’s expression then, but Seungmin had sat on the small couch for a good ten minutes just staring out the window after Hyunjin left. More than his own heart hurting at the prospect of Seungmin still loving Hyunjin, he was more worried about how Seungmin felt with this new information, if he was still confused, or if he had realised he actually liked Hyunjin.

Jeongin tries not to think about that too much.

Instead, he changes into human form and once again kneels by Seungmin’s bed. He had never been able to compare his human form with Seungmin’s, but he guesses that he’s a good inch or two taller and if he was more playful he would want to gloat about this - yet that’s not what he wants to do right now. Slowly, gently, he brushes through Seungmin’s hair, careful not to wake the gatherer up. Then his hands leave, goes to hold the gatherer’s hands. 

Seungmin is like a flower in his hands that he doesn’t want to hurt accidentally, even though he knows that the flower has persevered through rain and wind. Just because he knows Seungmin is strong doesn’t mean that he won’t try and protect him. What he has been through doesn’t make him any less fragile in his mind, and the urge to cherish comes so naturally to his fingertips.

Once again, exactly like he has been doing for the past two weeks, Jeongin steps away and turns back into a fox, curls up beside Seungmin’s bed and goes to sleep. This is as much as he can do in the state that he is in, with unfinished business in the forest and loose ends to tie.

_ I want to stay with you here _ , Jeongin thinks as Seungmin strokes over his fur when he wakes up,  _ but I will never be able to show my true self with you if I continue to stay _ .

* * *

It has been more than two months of Jeongin treating Seungmin’s house like his home, and the autumn is quickly settling in. Already, Jeongin can tell the coming winter will be harsh, and he hopes that Seungmin has stored enough supplies to last throughout the winter. He has vague plans of leaving when the winter arrives - the fae are typical in their habits and he knows they will settle by the lakeside for the winter - and he is thinking about how to tell Seungmin this. 

It doesn’t help that Seungmin has been visiting the town rather often lately with no more than a  _ I’ll come back soon _ told to him, so he doesn’t know what exactly Seungmin is doing in the town. Sure, he has friends in the town, but Jeongin has an inkling that the gatherer’s home is here, in the forest; he is sure of this, so he plans his days and waits for Seungmin’s return.

Seungmin takes two nights to come back.

Jeongin doesn’t know what is happening at first. It is just about an hour to midnight when there is a loud bang from outside the cabin that Jeongin knows is the smash of the gate. He sits up, alarmed and on guard, ready for intruders when  _ Seungmin  _ stumbles through the front door, making a lot of noise as he crashes through into the house and also a lot of noise with how he’s babbling about something underneath his breath.

Immediately, he knows Seungmin is tipsy when he slumps onto the ground, just barely able to close the door behind him and leaning forward to brace himself on his palms. Even before he opens his mouth or looks up, Jeongin knows he is already crying; the line of his shoulders are shaking and Jeongin can smell his sadness, his confusion. 

Slowly, he pads his way over to the crumpled form of the gatherer, nudges Seungmin’s cheek with his nose.

“Oh,” Seungmin murmurs, “Molae-yah.” Then he looks up, and Jeongin’s heart shatters in that one moment. Seungmin looks devastated. There are tears gathered in his eyes, half broken by his eyelashes and rolling down his cheeks in rapid rivulets; he is trying so hard not to sob out loud that his voice has become hoarse and his shoulders shake all the more violently, the force of his tears wrecking his entire body.

_ What’s wrong _ , Jeongin tries to say, crouches down and butts his head under Seungmin’s chin, trying to offer some comfort.  _ Why are you crying? _

“It’s Hyunjin,” Seungmin starts, and immediately Jeongin freezes up, feels a surge of protectiveness swelling hot and fierce in his chest. “It’s strange, I know, I shouldn’t be this upset - but he’s getting  _ married _ .” His voice is hoarse from keeping his cries in, and it is like Jeongin can feel his own heart breaking along with Seungmin’s. 

“I don’t know, Molae-yah, I don’t know,” Seungmin murmurs, takes Jeongin into his arms and buries his face in his fur. “Is it strange? It’s not like I wanted to be with Hyunjinnie, but to know that he’s getting married, that he’s engaged… I’m so confused, Molae-yah, I don’t know what to do. I don’t know what love feels like.” 

Jeongin doesn’t know that answer. But he thinks, when Seungmin hugs him together and presses a kiss to his head, that love feels a little like this. 

Love feels a little like his heart trembling when Seungmin cries. Love feels a little like relief when the line of Seungmin’s shoulders finally relaxes. Love feels a little like settling down as Seungmin change into his night clothes and nuzzling into his palm when Seungmin reaches down from his bed.

Love feels a lot like Kim Seungmin, the gatherer.

Jeongin doesn’t know where to begin with this realisation.

Should he tell Seungmin that he’s not a pure fox? Should he confess his feelings? Should he even  _ stay  _ \- no - he doesn’t have the right to think of such options. He doesn’t know how much more his heart can take watching Hyunjin when Seungmin is hurting so. And there is the matter of the fae, that he needs to find them and get his share of compensation before more trouble arrives; that is something that will take weeks on end, especially in the winter.

He could stay now, and leave later with nothing changed; or he could leave now and deal with this and come back and hopefully come clean to Seungmin. He owes him that, at the very least.

It is what Seungmin says in his sleep that helps Jeongin to make his mind up.

_ There will never be someone to love me _ , Seungmin murmurs that night, in the depth of darkness. He is talking to himself, dreaming of what he is worried about; Jeongin is awake as foxes are, listening. Guarding.  _ No one will ever love me. _

_ I shouldn’t do this _ , Jeongin says to himself, but the space in his heart where Seungmin has carved his mark into is brimming with feelings. He waits until Seungmin stills and his breathing evens out before he takes his chance.

He turns into a human once again.

(like he has done the two times before this, but those times were safe, when he knew seungmin would not see him, when seungmin would not wake up. this time is not like the others.)

“You do have someone who loves you,” Jeongin whispers, speaks for the first time to Seungmin as a human. It feels new, and words are foreign on his tongue, strange in a mouth that has not spoken a language for months; Seungmin’s face is still so familiar. “You just don’t know who it is… I’m sorry.” There is an eternity in between Jeongin’s last word and when Seungmin next takes a breath, and Jeongin decides he has nothing to lose. 

“Thank you,” Jeongin murmurs, gently wipes the tears off Seungmin’s cheeks, “for everything.”

He leaves a soft kiss on Seungmin’s forehead, just the lightest press of his mouth against Seungmin’s tear-warmed skin for a moment. Then, slowly, one by one - his lips away from Seungmin’s forehead, his hand away from Seungmin’s cheek, his knee off Seungmin’s bed - 

He leaves.

It is easy to leave physically, but it’s less easy to erase the memories of the gatherer, Kim Seungmin, from his memory.

And so, Kim Seungmin wakes up a day after sobbing his heart out to find that Molae has disappeared. He is not entirely surprised - after all, Molae likes to go out hunting between dusk and dawn, and returns in the afternoons.

Besides, he has been away from his cabin for two nights, and there are chores waiting to be done, orders waiting to be filled. He has missed the forest, and the forest has missed him in return. The return to his daily routine helps to calm him down, and his mind is also clearer after his bout of crying last night. 

His trip into the town was new and exciting, but it was out of his comfort zone; that, paired with the sudden news that Hyunjin was abruptly getting  _ married _ had set him off, and when it finally sunk it, he had reached home and burst into tears. The only good thing was Molae waiting for him there, offering comfort as he allowed Seungmin to bundle him up into his arms.

As he goes through his day, his feelings slowly settle down and he’s able to think about everything more clearly. 

He was sad - that was a fact. 

But  _ why _ was he sad? It wasn’t like he had lost Hyunjin, in any way or sense, because Hyunjin was still his dear friend. Was he just sad because he had lost Hyunjin as a  _ concept _ ? That he was worried he might not find anyone else he possibly liked and so had lost his only chance at love? 

His head might be clearer but his feelings still remained ambiguous, and there really wasn’t much he could do about that. 

Kim Seungmin, the gatherer, returns to his normal life. 

Except… Molae - doesn’t return.

He waits for a day, then two days, then three and four and five, and still, Molae doesn’t show up on his doorstep. There is no sand-coloured fox waiting for him beside his bed, curled up in a patch of sun. No sand-coloured fox whining at him in the evenings when he returns, yowling for food. Nothing. His house descends into the same silence before everything happened. 

Molae must have left. 

He was expecting it. After all, it is not as if he could make Molae stay with him forever, no matter how much he adored the fox’s companion.

And  _ yet _ , despite it all, Seungmin can’t help but  _ wait _ . He wants to hope. He wants to believe that Molae will come back even though there is no reason for Molae to stay with him any longer. The fox has healed, and it is not like it can understand him or his confusion, or his loneliness.

Two months after he first found the fox, the one constant he had come to expect in his life - Molae, has disappeared. The sand coloured fox he had saved months ago has left for good. It is a little selfish of him to say that he wishes that Molae had stayed, but he is so lonely that he can’t help but want this little thing to come true. 

_ Molae, please come back _ , Seungmin writes on a note a week after the fox leaves. This, he leaves outside his hut, with food and water bowls.  _ I miss you so much. _

It is futile to write a note for a  _ fox _ that can’t read, but he will try. 

One more week later, just as the winter is about to arrive, he sets out a small, pressed sunflower, and an apple. He knows Molae likes these things, and so he must try. One more time, before the winter sets in and he won’t be able to put anything out at all for fear of it becoming frozen overnight.

_ I hope you are alright _ , Seungmin wishes when the sun starts to set earlier in the day now.  _ I hope that you are safe. _ He used to say these things to Molae when the fox went out on its hunts, but now he can only whisper these words to himself.

(he dreams.

his dreams usually are of friends and loved ones, but this time there is a stranger. he dreams of a stranger with sharp cheekbones and a sharper jaw; hair that is the same shade of sand that his heart and memories are so familiar with; eyes, tinged amber and golden but kind and sweet. he dreams of everything that he has ever wanted.

he doesn’t know who he dreams of, but the person is familiar. if he reached his hand out, it feels as if he could touch this person, and the person would hold him forever. 

he dreams of safety.

home.

love.)

* * *

_ Three months later. _

Seungmin has never been more glad for the winter to end. The whole season was bitter and cold and downright  _ miserable _ . The novelty of the snow-covered forest and ice-frosted river quickly melted away when the inconveniences of winter set in, and he was left to shovel snow and brave the biting winds to fulfill the rare, occasional orders.

All in all, the winter has been unusually tough this year, and perhaps it was to balance out the generosity of summer before it.

The bitter winter had also made him that much  _ lonelier _ , and he couldn’t help but think about Molae continuously for the past few months. Was the fox doing well? Where was it staying, was it injured again, was it  _ safe _ ? Seungmin can’t help but worry about Molae throughout the winter, and now that the winter is thawing out he thinks that perhaps he will try putting out things on his doorstep again and see if Molae returns to him.

But as the winter ends, the requests for orders start to pick up, and Seungmin has to get his normal routine back. He isn’t quite used to it after a long winter of not doing much, and so he doesn’t quite get around to putting out things for Molae on his doorstep.

Which is why, on what seems like the first proper day of spring, the gatherer, Kim Seungmin, returns from the forest with baskets of flowers and mushrooms to find the same sand-coloured fox that had disappeared all those months ago sitting on his doorstep, head cocked in the same way as if it had never left at all.

Seungmin can’t quite believe his eyes at first. 

He stops dead in his tracks, still a few feet away from his own front door, just staring at the fox, unbelieving. It is only when the fox yowls at him, the same sound that Seungmin has come to associate with coming home and waking up for breakfast, that Seungmin breaks out of his shocked state and comes to.

"It's you!" Seungmin cries, takes a few hurried steps towards his own doorstep. "Molae, you left for so long, I didn't even know if you were alive, or if you were safe -"

Yet, before he can so much as finish his sentence, the fox starts glowing a soft golden light, and right in front of Seungmin’s eyes, the fox is engulfed by the light. The shape of the fox shifts and grows, stretches up and up until a figure forms in front of Seungmin, just a little taller than him, and as the glow dies down - 

A  _ human _ stands in front of him.

“You… you…” Seungmin stutters, shocked by what has just happened in front of him. 

“I’m sorry,” The fox - the human? - murmurs. “My name is Jeongin, but you know me as Molae, the fox you saved a long time ago. I’m… I’m really sorry for keeping this a secret from you.” 

There’s a pause between them, just them looking at each other, then Seungmin takes a hesitant step closer, looking up at Jeongin, two steps higher. He looks oddly familiar.

“Jeongin,” Seungmin says, tries how the name sounds off his tongue. “Jeongin. You… what are you?” 

“I’m a werefox,” Jeongin says, reaches out naturally to take the basket of flowers and mushrooms from Seungmin’s shaking hands. “I can shapeshift at will, but not when I’m injured in one form or another. So for the first few weeks when you had me… I couldn’t tell you I was a shapeshifter. I did change back into a human a couple of times just to see if I still could, but I never told you. I’m sorry about that.”

“But you stayed with me for months,” Seungmin says, eyes bright and flickering over each of Jeongin’s features, like there is an ocean hidden there. “And you were healed, I’m sure of that.” 

“I didn’t know how to tell you I was a werefox,” Jeongin admits. “And the injury you saved me from - it was caused by a fae circle. I had to go and find the fae, see what they wanted with me. It was going to take a long time, I knew that, and I didn’t want to leave you right after telling you I was a human too.”

And… what can Seungmin say? 

The fox, Molae - no, not Molae,  _ Jeongin _ \- that he had become so attached to as a companion had  _ actually _ understood everything he said in the past months, and he was also a  _ human _ . There is nothing much he can say, not when Jeongin smiles at him and his heart skips two beats.

“Welcome back,” Seungmin finally says, and he returns Jeongin’s smile. “I’ve missed you.”

(it isn’t until he’s in bed that night with jeongin out hunting that seungmin realises why jeongin looks so familiar.

he has dreamed about jeongin before. all these months, the dreams about the man with the cheekbones and the jaw and the maple and honey eyes - these features all belong to  _ jeongin _ . how can that be? did his subconscious remember jeongin when he shifted even though he wasn’t awake? was that even  _ possible _ ?

and when jeongin smiled at him this morning… why did his heart do that? it had never done that before. not even with hyunjin.

as he lies there with a fluttering heart, he can’t help but wonder about these feelings. these feelings that feel very different from any other thing he has experienced, like his heart is in his throat and electricity has collected at his fingertips. 

kim seungmin goes to sleep on the first proper day of spring with a heart that refuses to calm down. once again, he dreams of maple and honey eyes.)

* * *

In the days after Jeongin’s return, Seungmin can’t help but feel like having him back is both familiar and strange at the same time. Jeongin knows his routine - he comes back in the mornings when Seungmin wakes up, he follows and helps to collect flowers and mushrooms and spring berries from the forest, and he helps to wash and dry and pack them away for the townsfolk to collect later on. 

Seungmin can’t help but be so overly aware of Jeongin all the time. Perhaps it is because he realises that he’s been dreaming of Jeongin all this while, or that he just has company around him after so many months again.

“Why are you staring at me?” Jeongin asks. There is amusement in his voice, and Seungmin startles at the question, suddenly registering that he is indeed staring at Jeongin and has stopped picking the wild strawberries from the bushes.

“Nothing!” Seungmin says, then turns back to the bushes. Oddly enough, the back of his neck warms, and when he hears Jeongin laugh, low in his throat, the warmth moves up to his face.

“I wanna know why you were looking at me, Seungmin-hyung,” Jeongin says.

Seungmin still isn’t used to hearing his name from Jeongin’s mouth. “I - no - I mean… have you changed into a human before you left? Like, inside the house?” 

Now, it is Jeongin’s turn to stop picking the fruit. “Oh. I did, actually. Three times. Did… do you remember that?” 

“Not really,” Seungmin says, Jeongin’s words revolving around in his head. “But for some reason - I remember your face.” 

A silence descends between them at that point, Jeongin too embarrassed to confess that he had kissed Seungmin’s hands and forehead when he turned, and Seungmin too shy to admit that he had been dreaming of Jeongin for the past few months. Yet, when they finish picking the wild strawberries and turn towards each other, there is something that has changed between them without anything being said.

Seungmin starts to place these feelings as the days pass and spring settles in with more permanence and as Jeongin becomes more and more intertwined with his life.

Jeongin, who only leaves to hunt after he has fallen asleep.

Jeongin, who he finds in fox form, sleeping next to his bed the next morning. 

Jeongin, who stays by his side the whole afternoon and well into the night, filling orders together and visiting the forest together and making meals together.

Jeongin, who has somehow come into his life unexpectedly and who is causing him to feel something that he has never experienced before. He doesn’t know what to do when his heart pounds or when his hands shake, when he can’t take his eyes away from Jeongin or when he laughs at every little joke Jeongin makes.

_ Welcome back _ , he had said a month ago when Jeongin first returned to him, and it was like the concept of home had been extended to Jeongin as well.

They are relaxing in the flower meadow when Seungmin comes to a sort-of conclusion about his feelings.

There is nowhere else more fitting than the flower meadow for him to realise his feelings, under the trees that seem to change species every other season or so. This spring, the flower meadow is coloured pink by the cherry blossom trees that are in full bloom, and he has been looking at the tiniest ladybug crawling over a leaf for the past few minutes before he remembers that Jeongin had come here with him.

Hurriedly, he looks up, mouth already open and ready to apologise for taking so long to look at some mushrooms when he got distracted - when he sees it.

Jeongin, resting under one of the cherry blossom trees, eyes closed. His hair is messy against the bark of the trees, and when the spring breeze blows through the meadow, cherry blossom petals sway and drift down, settling lightly in his hair. His lips are just a shade darker than the colour of the petals, and Seungmin can’t help the heat that rises to the back of his neck and his cheeks.

Jeongin looks so  _ pretty _ .

Seungmin’s heart goes  _ one-two _ unsteadily, and when he stands up, his legs shake a little. He can’t stop looking at Jeongin’s mouth, and suddenly Felix’s words come back to mind from last autumn. 

_ Do you want to kiss him? _

_ No _ , He had replied then, when they were talking about Hyunjin.

But now, as he looks at Jeongin - his quickening heartbeat already betrays his answer.

* * *

“What if I dyed my hair a different colour?” 

“... How are you going to do that?” Jeongin asks, amused. 

It is a slow day, and with them finishing up most of the orders yesterday in the flower meadow, they have an off day today. He had been planning on just soaking in the sun and going out later to hunt, but evidently, Seungmin has different plans.

“There are ways to do it,” Seungmin replies mysteriously, and then heads into the kitchen to start preparing something.

Jeongin leaves him to it and returns to a book he had stolen from Seungmin’s bookshelf - but he isn’t expecting to be  _ distracted _ . How can he not be, when Seungmin takes his shirt off and swaps it for an older one, torn in places and making him look so soft? All his attention bleeds from the book he’s reading to what Seungmin is doing instead, and he isn’t subtle about staring,  _ at all _ .

Seungmin brushes lemon juice into his hair until it’s slightly wet from it, and Jeongin has to avert his eyes from the way the back of his neck is wet. 

“Is that how you bleach your hair?” Jeongin asks. 

Seungmin just smiles at him. “Come sit in the sun with me for a while.”

It doesn’t stop there - after two hours in the mild spring sunshine, Seungmin washes off the lemon from his hair, and his hair has become more orange than its previous caramel. Before Jeongin can so much as ask what he’s doing, Seungmin is making another mixture of cinnamon and sugar and honey, and Jeongin has to try not to blush when Seungmin asks him for help.

“Just, the back of my head,” Seungmin requests, sitting down at a chair and handing Jeongin the sweet-smelling bowl. “I can’t reach it well.”

Jeongin thinks his heart is going to burst out of his chest. Slowly, carefully, he brushes the mixture into Seungmin’s hair with a wooden comb, the paste smelling so sweet between the pads of his fingers. Seungmin’s hair that is soft becomes sticky with the mixture, and he thinks he feels Seungmin’s shoulders melt downwards as he applies the rest of the paste onto his hair.

“I’m done,” Jeongin murmurs. It feels wrong to speak loudly, not in this moment where Seungmin’s skin is soft under his fingers and he can’t quite make out why the back of Seungmin’s neck is so warm.

“Thank you,” Seungmin says, and his voice sounds as sweet as the paste smells.

Jeongin thinks he is going to lose his mind - so he takes the bowl to the sink to wash it; this way, he won’t need to see Seungmin at all and have his heart actually go into overdrive. But even when he doesn’t look at Seungmin, he can smell the mixture of cinnamon, sugar, and honey grow stronger, and he knows that Seungmin is now standing somewhere behind him.

“Don’t I look silly?” Seungmin asks when Jeongin turns around. “My hair’s all matted down by the mixture.” 

Jeongin kind of wants to pass out. Sure, his hair is matted down and slicked back so he looks like he went for a dip in the lake - why did his mind go  _ there _ now - but there is a flush across his cheeks and Jeongin has an inkling that  _ he _ caused Seungmin to blush by putting the mixture on his hair. He thinks Seungmin  _ does _ look a little silly, but more than that, Seungmin looks so comfortable around him, and that does dangerous things to his heart. 

“Oh, go and let your hair bleach,” Jeongin says instead, because if he says anything else his heart will pour out between each word that he says, “or you’ll have sticky hair for the rest of the night.” 

Seungmin giggles then, and proceeds to pull out some fresh beetroot they had collected two days ago and smiles at him. Wordlessly, Jeongin bends down to open the cupboard, retrieving the chopping board and a knife while Seungmin washes the beetroots and starts peeling the skin. Once he’s done, Jeongin takes over, chopping the beetroot into tiny pieces as Seungmin pulls out the mortar and pestle. 

“Can you get some of the vinegar?” Seungmin requests when he’s grinding at the beetroot, mashing it to a pulp with the stone pestle; the beetroot has stained everything red, like love.

“Is this self-made hair dye?” Jeongin asks, measuring half a cup of apple cider vinegar and passing it to Seungmin.

“Self-made hair dye with forest magic,” Seungmin corrects, a mysterious smile blooming across his mouth.

“Sometimes I think you know more about the forest than I do, and  _ I’m _ the werefox here,” Jeongin jokes, going to wash the glass as Seungmin slowly adds the vinegar and beetroot cubes by turn.

“I’ve just been around here for a long time,” Seungmin says simply. It takes another few minutes, then Seungmin puts the pestle down and twists his wrists a few times. “The hair dye is done! Do you… do you want to help me again?”

Seungmin smells like cinnamon and honey and sugar; his hands are stained pink. 

“Of course.”

After Seungmin washes out the sweet-smelling paste and towels his hair off roughly - the neck of his shirt is wet, and Jeongin is such a weak man - he sits down again and hands Jeongin the bowl of hair dye, waiting. The paste has done wonders to Seungmin’s hair that is now a dark blonde colour with orange undertones, and as Jeongin holds the bowl with the dark red dye in one hand and a comb in the other, he wonders how everything has led to this.

Dyeing Seungmin’s hair is methodical and relaxing, and his own hands become stained with the pink as he works his way through the strands. He doesn’t know if this self-made dye will work, but if Seungmin says it works, he supposes it must. The forest does favour him, after all.

It takes a half hour, but Jeongin finally finishes the last of the dye; once again, the line of Seungmin’s shoulders are relaxed and the back of his neck is warm. How easy it would be for him to kiss Seungmin’s skin there… Jeongin shakes that thought out of his mind.

“You’re done,” Jeongin murmurs. 

“Thank you,” Seungmin says, and his voice jumps a little high, like he was nervous.

The dye needs another half an hour to set in, but even that goes by fast when they have to finish clearing up the mess when they were making the hair dye. Their hips press together as they clean and wash and dry, and Jeongin feels like his love will be revealed everytime their skin touches.

“Your hands are stained,” Seungmin says, reaching for Jeongin’s hands when they’re done, palms up. 

Jeongin just hums, and turns his hands over, holding Seungmin’s hands instead. “Go wash your hair,” He says, and makes the mistake of looking into Seungmin’s eyes. The four seasons are condensed into his eyes right there, warmth radiating from the endless brown, and for a moment, Jeongin can’t breathe. 

Like new gravity is forming between them, they draw closer to each other almost instinctively, bodies coming to press against each other. This way, Seungmin has to tip his head up ever so slightly to meet Jeongin’s eyes; he looks into maple and honey like he does in his dreams, but his dreams do not have the warmth, the softness, the gentle hold that Jeongin in person has, and he thinks he forgets how to think for a second.

Close, close,  _ closer _ , and - and  _ god _ , they’re so close - their hands separate so their chests come together - Seungmin cups Jeongin’s jaw with one hand - one of Jeongin’s arms settles around his waist and the other comes up to fit around the back of his neck - 

And the cold wetness of the hair dye startles both of them.

“I… I should go wash this out,” Seungmin says, breathless. They are still so tightly intertwined.

“You should,” Jeongin says, but he is unwilling to let go. 

Right at that moment, Seungmin smiles at him, and it is like watching a flower blooming rapidly in front of his eyes. Seungmin leans up to press a soft kiss to his jaw and then untangles himself from Jeongin’s arms. Jeongin stares after him, rooted to the spot with surprise, hand once again freshly wet with dye.

When Seungmin emerges from the shower, Jeongin has finally come to terms that Seungmin had  _ kissed _ him. He is ready to simply forget about this, but then Seungmin catches his eye again, towel soft around his shoulders. 

“What do you think? I think it doesn’t look too bad,” Seungmin says, strides across the room to look in the mirror propped up against the wall. They should get around to hanging that up some time or other. 

Jeongin thinks passing out right now would be less painful. Seungmin’s hair is a deep pink, not quite even in colour all the way throughout his hair; some strands are darker and some strands are lighter, but it all adds to the charm, and when Seungmin spins around to beam at him, Jeongin can’t help but let love slip through each word that he says. 

“You look beautiful,” Jeongin says, and then he has the delight of watching Seungmin’s cheeks match his hair. “The pink looks so good on you.”

Jeongin means each word that he says. Usually, even without the change in hair colour, he already has a hard time trying not to look at Seungmin, but with this new hair colour, he can’t help but rest his eyes on Seungmin every time he isn’t busy doing something.

“You look like you want to say something to me,” Seungmin teases him over dinner that night. 

“Whatever,” Jeongin grumbles, and takes a mouthful of  _ kimchi-jjigae _ in order to not answer the question, frantically casting around for another topic.

It is a little funny, for Seungmin isn’t wrong - Jeongin  _ does _ have a lot to say; but it is funnier, because he doesn’t say anything. It is  _ Seungmin _ that speaks up that night, right before Jeongin leaves for his hunt.

“Wait,” Seungmin calls, right as Jeongin is preparing to leave, hand resting on the handle of the front door. 

“Seungmin?” 

“I - I just -”

Jeongin turns around, steps closer until he’s sitting at the end of Seungmin’s bed. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing’s wrong! Just… I’ve been dreaming about someone for the past few months.”

Something heavy drops into Jeongin’s chest. “Yeah?”

“Yeah. I didn’t know who it was for the longest time because I was  _ sure _ that I didn’t know anyone that looked like the stranger in my dreams, but… but then you returned and -” 

Jeongin’s heart leaps into his throat. 

“- and you are the one in my dreams,” Seungmin whispers, a fierce blush running down his neck, past the collar of his nightshirt; Jeongin tears his eyes away from that sight back up to his face. “I don’t know why I had -  _ have _ dreams about you, but I’ve had them for months without knowing who it was.. I - I didn’t know anyone that had this face…” 

“... Until I came back,” Jeongin says quietly.

They are sitting on Seungmin’s bed, facing each other like this. There is just an inch of space between where their knees are folded, but it feels so much less when Jeongin looks at Seungmin, can finally look at him through the eyes of a man.

“I missed you,” Seungmin admits, in this dark night where the time doesn’t flow, and his hands rest on his legs, so close to Jeongin’s own. The words bubble and condense in his throat until he can’t say them out loud.  _ I missed you even before I knew who you were. I missed you enough to dream of you. I missed you enough to know… to know for sure -  _

“I’m sorry for leaving,” Jeongin says, and his voice cuts through the ebb of Seungmin’s thoughts. “I was… I had a few things to think about, and there was the whole incident with the fae. I know I shouldn’t have left you without saying anything, but -”   
  


“But you came back,” Seungmin finishes, and then he’s looking at Jeongin -  _ really looking _ \- and Jeongin has spent enough nights in the wild to recognise constellations but there is a whole galaxy of stars in Seungmin’s eyes that he has never seen before. “I care more about that,” Seungmin murmurs, “that you remembered to come back.” 

_ How could I not,  _ Jeongin wants to say,  _ how could I not come back to the person I -  _

“We should sleep,” Seungmin continues, “I have to wake early tomorrow.” 

“You have to wake early every day,” Jeongin points out, and when Seungmin smiles at him it’s like they share a secret from the universe. “Go to sleep, Seungmin. I’ll go outside.” 

“You’re going to hunt?” Seungmin asks, voice slowly becoming slurred with exhaustion. Like this, he looks so much more innocent than the pensive gatherer he had first seen in the woods all those months ago, weighed down by his feelings and his duties to the world. Now, in the recesses of the night, he is just Kim Seungmin, nothing more, nothing less.

(and kim seungmin means everything to him.)

“I am,” Jeongin says, then pauses. “I’ll come back by the dawn.” 

Seungmin smiles again, sleepy. “I know you will.” His lips are pink, like the buds on the rose bushes Jeongin had passed by on his way to Seungmin’s cabin this morning. “Go, Jeongin. I won’t take up any more of your night.”

_ You have never wasted my nights,  _ Jeongin wants to say, but doesn’t. Instead, he leans over, presses a soft kiss to Seungmin’s freshly-dyed hair. 

“I’ll be back safe.”

* * *

It takes only three more nights for Jeongin to break.

After all, there is an extent to his limit, and now that he can freely turn into a human around Seungmin, his feelings are stronger than they ever were before, and love is threatening to spill from his tongue, from the tips of his fingers, from the way he looks at Seungmin. And he thinks Seungmin deserves to listen to all this.

It doesn’t help that they have become awfully familiar with each other in the few weeks -  _ months _ \- since Jeongin first told Seungmin he was a werefox, and there is only so much he can take of Seungmin hugging him and patting his head gently like he is still a fox before he breaks. 

Even with his mind made up, it is like the world is encouraging him - that evening, they make dinner together. The sides of their hips are pressed against each other as they work on cooking, something fresh with the things Seungmin had collected this morning. He still cannot get over the deep pink of Seungmin’s hair that has mellowed out into something lighter, caused by sun and rain and wind.

“How does it taste?” Seungmin asks, pressing a spoonful of the watercress soup to Jeongin’s mouth. 

“A bit more salt,” Jeongin replies, going back to flipping the thin slices of potato that he’s frying. One of the slices sticks to the bottom of the pan, and Jeongin gently scrapes at it with his chopsticks, mind somewhere else. When had this routine become so familiar?

(when they sit down to eat together, jeongin thinks he sees  _ family _ and  _ love _ intertwine together in one person right in front of his eyes.)

“Hey,” Jeongin starts after dinner when they’ve finished cleaning up, “can I tell you something?”

“You can tell me anything,” Seungmin replies, and there is just two inches of space between them on the small couch. Jeongin ignores this as best as he can; he also ignores the brightness of Seungmin’s eyes as much as he is able to. 

He takes a breath, and then his life splits into before and after.

“I… I love you,” Jeongin says. 

There is an eternity in the silent half second that stretches between them, and Jeongin watches the expressions change over Seungmin’s face. His eyebrows go up and come back down, his lips part in surprise, and the faintest of blushes spreads itself over Seungmin’s cheeks.

“... What?” Seungmin eventually says, and Jeongin almost wants to laugh. 

“I love you,” Jeongin repeats. The words are simple, because everything is contained in those three words. “You don’t need to give me a response or anything, but I thought I’d tell you.”

“No!” Seungmin says, hurried, and then his cheeks flush darker at his loud tone. “I mean - no, I was just surprised. I wasn’t - that wasn’t what I was expecting you to say.” He takes a breath then, like he has a secret he’s about to tell, and then he looks at Jeongin, rosy cheeks paired with bright eyes and pink hair. Jeongin thinks it will take a thousand lifetimes for him to forget this one moment.

“I love you too,” Seungmin whispers, but every word is stable. 

“You… do?” Jeongin asks, surprised himself. 

“Yeah,” Seungmin murmurs, looks down at his hands, then back up at Jeongin. “I love you too.” 

“I - you know? For sure?” Then Jeongin winces at what he’s said. “I mean… you said before you didn’t know what you were feeling for… for  _ him _ \- Hyunjin-ssi. “You said before that you might love him,” He says, trying to keep his voice as plain as he can. “I remember that. I don’t - I don’t want any of this if it’s  _ him _ that you’re loving when you look at me -”

“Jeongin,” Seungmin calls softly, shuffles so he sits closer against Jeongin, taking his hands in his own like it is second nature. “It’s difficult for me, because I don’t know - if what I have felt, or am feeling, can be called love. I can’t ever be sure of that. But I do know that you’re the only one I think of, that I want to be with.” There is so much more that Seungmin wants to say. 

“I don’t have any confused feelings when I look at you,” Seungmin continues, and there is something sweet blooming at the corner of his mouth. “When I look at you - I know I love you. I think I can call this love, so - so I love you.”

It takes a moment for Seungmin’s words to sink in. 

“Oh, my god,” Jeongin breathes out, and then something like disbelief and  _ joy _ bubbles out of his throat, forming small peals of laughter as he holds Seungmin’s hands and looks at this man that had saved him once and who now loves him.

“What?” 

“Nothing,” Jeongin says, and when he smiles it feels like it is not wide enough for the extent of his happiness. “I just love you a lot.”

“I love you a lot too,” Seungmin says, and Jeongin thinks that maybe the wetness in Seungmin’s eyes are reflected in his own.

(it is seungmin who kisses him for the first time, a week after they confess to each other. they are collecting blueberries by the lake deep inside the forest when seungmin levels his gaze at him. before jeongin can so much as ask if there is something on his face from when they were eating breakfast, seungmin is already striding towards him, and then suddenly, they’re entangled in the same way as when seungmin’s hair was wet with dye in the kitchen a week ago.

“seungmin?” jeongin has asked, almost breathless. their baskets laid abandoned by their feet. looking at seungmin always feels like his attention is zeroed on him and him alone, every single one of his nerves now focused on seungmin.

“if i said i wanted to kiss you,” seungmin starts, “what would you do?” 

jeongin blinks, can see that seungmin is trying to be brave.. “well - i also want to kiss you. do  _ you _ want to kiss me?”

“very much,” seungmin admits, “but i don’t know what to do.”

jeongin has to physically restrain himself from collapsing right there and then from seungmin’s cuteness, whether intended or otherwise. “just like this,” jeongin murmurs, and he cups the back of seungmin’s neck to angle their faces right and pull them more flushed against each other.

there’s half a breath that passes, then seungmin presses forward, and their lips meld together easily, naturally. there is the faint lingering of honey and berries on seungmin’s lips; it makes jeongin grip the back of seungmin’s neck more securely and press into his mouth that little bit harder. 

it is seungmin who kisses jeongin for the first time, a week after they confess to each other - but it is jeongin who kisses seungmin for a second time, and a third time, and a fourth and a fifth and a sixth, and then there is simply no more point in counting.)

* * *

_ We’re dating.  _ Jeongin runs the words over in his mind repeatedly, and it still brings him the same happiness as it did when he first said it. Today, all of Seungmin’s friends from the town had come over to visit them and also meet Jeongin - it had been a warm, lively affair, that had taken them a while to organise solely because everyone was busy and had different schedules.

There is Chan and Felix, still warm and happily married. 

There is Jisung from the grocery store, and his husband Minho, lively and noisy. 

There is Hyunjin and his fiance Changbin, shy when the others tease them about their upcoming marriage.

And then there is him and Seungmin, smiling at each other and holding hands under the table.

Jeongin had adored meeting all of them - he had grudgingly let them all baby him even though he was sure that by magic years he was actually a bit older than them. The food was delicious and Felix had brought dessert even though Seungmin insisted he didn’t need to. 

It was to the sweet taste of pears and crystal candy that the dinner ended and the evening came to an end. With everyone gone and the dishes washed, they had gotten ready for the night and now they’re tucked up in bed, arms and legs tangled as they face each other. 

“My boyfriend,” Jeongin murmurs, running his thumb over the highs of Seungmin’s cheeks. “My boyfriend, the gatherer.” He thinks of Seungmin saying  _ This is my boyfriend, Jeongin _ , and he can’t help the smile that spreads itself across his mouth.

“It’s been a few months already,” Seungmin says, giggling as Jeongin presses a kiss to his cheek. “You’re still not over it?” 

“Never,” Jeongin says warmly, and his arm settles securely around Seungmin’s waist, pulling them closer together just for the sake of it.

Seungmin smiles again then, and when he cranes his neck towards him, Jeongin obliges, presses their mouths together. If these past few months have taught anything about Seungmin, it is that Seungmin is so incredibly easy to rile up, and all it takes is to kiss him a little too hard and press his fingers a little too firmly into his waist for Seungmin to start squirming and blushing.

“You know,” Jeongin starts, "you're really sensitive.” All he has done is kiss Seungmin and his hand is on Seungmin's bare waist, but already Seungmin’s pupils are blown and his cheeks are the tiniest bit flushed. 

"It's not my fault," Seungmin says, and it sounds like a whine to Jeongin’s ears, "and besides, you're also really ticklish." 

"Being ticklish is a different matter," Jeongin dismisses. "But you…" As demonstration, he ducks down to kiss Seungmin's jaw, just the faintest press of his mouth there, but Seungmin lets out a small whine, trembles in Jeongin’s hold. 

“See? You’re so sensitive.”

"Please," Seungmin whines, clutches at Jeongin's shoulders, "please, I need - want -" 

"What do you want?” Jeongin murmurs, presses the words into Seungmin’s neck where he nips and sucks at, teeth sharp and Seungmin’s skin so giving. “I’ll give you anything you want, Min, I will.” Love spills out from between each word that he says, and if Seungmin even so much as looked at the moon and the stars, Jeongin would fling himself to the heavens to retrieve it for him. 

Seungmin only looks at him then, eyes molten brown and Jeongin can’t help be drawn into it.

“Please,” Seungmin whispers, “I love you.”

_ I love you too _ , Jeongin marks into the column of Seungmin’s neck.

_ I love you too _ , Jeongin kisses into Seungmin’s mouth. 

_ I love you too _ , Jeongin smiles and nods when Seungmin shakes his head, indicates that he’s too tired a couple minutes later. 

“I suddenly just realised I’m too tired,” Seungmin murmurs as Jeongin rolls off him, going back to the position they were in before everything got a bit heated. “I hope you don’t mind.” 

“It takes two, and if you’re not interested it won’t be right,” Jeongin says, running his fingers through Seungmin’s hair, now a lot more peach than pink. “We should sleep, it’s been a long day.”

“Goodnight,” Seungmin says, eyes already slipping closed, “I love you.” 

“Goodnight,” Jeongin says, and he kisses the top of Seungmin’s head softly, reverently. “I love you so much too.” 

He turns the bedside lamp off.

Tomorrow, they start another day in the forest, together.

(will these coming summers always be generous? seungmin asks himself as he steps over overgrown roots and low-hanging branches. spring is still lingering in the cold morning breeze, but his body is warm with a thick jacket, and his cheeks warm from a kiss.

today, he follows the familiar path to the wild fruit orchard once more, ready to collect the first abundance of the spring fruits and berries that the forest will give to him. working from muscle memory, he picks at the raspberries and blackberries that grow on the bushes lining the path, filling his pouch until it’s brimming with fruit and his fingertips are stained with sweetness.

a little more tart this year, seungmin decides when the berries burst over his tongue, but it is still early in the summer. there is plenty more time for the berries to sweeten.

time still passes so strangely in this part of the forest, and it seems like the magic is especially concentrated in this wild fruit orchard; he can feel it in the abrupt change of temperature in the breeze. the stems of the berries curve towards him when he reaches for them, and the branches, heavy with fruit, are just within arm’s reach. 

“oh, the forest’s favourite, as always, and now the fae’s too,” a voice sounds behind him, as familiar as home, and seungmin turns around, beaming. 

“jeongin! you got here!” 

“of course i did, what would i do, leave you alone to collect everything?” jeongin says, poking seungmin’s cheek lightly. “c’mon, let’s start collecting the fruits before the fae come out and start asking you questions and getting you into all sorts of hospitality corners.”

yes, the coming summers will always be generous, seungmin thinks when they’re done collecting the fruit and have thanked the orchard. he looks over to his side where jeongin is arranging the fruit neatly in his basket, and he can’t help the smile that stretches across his face even if he wants to. 

_ thank you _ , kim seungmin, the gatherer, whispers to the orchard, the forest.  _ thank you for the harvests of this summer, and all the ones to come.  _

jeongin smiles at him. seungmin sees love and warmth and comfort in the familiar colour of maple and honey. 

_ thank you for giving me someone to love, and who loves me back.  _

they go home, together.)

**Author's Note:**

> !!! youve finished the fic !!!! thank you for sticking around till the end <3333 it was Long but i had A Lot of fun writing it :DDD
> 
> so. explanations!! lovelyz's obliviate is a breakup/moving-on song if u ask me quite frankly, but for this fic it's used in the sense where seungmin moves on and forgets about his confusing feelings for hyunjin and instead finds love, comfort, and home within jeongin!! i hope that explains the choice of song hehe <33
> 
> you might have noticed there are a few recipes floating about in this fic, including chocolate and apricot cookies, maple and peach muffins, butterfly pea flower tea, watercress soup, and pear and crystal candy bars!! i did make most of these up myself but the watercress soup and the crystal candy bars (without the pears) are either my mama's recipe or a variation of it. the rest are made up so unfortunately i won't have recipes to provide you but please if you do try a recipe please tell me!!
> 
> would just like to add that using natural methods to dye or bleach your hair isn't likely to work, especially if you naturally have darker coloured hair. lemon is supposed to help bleach your hair, and beets theoretically could dye your hair, but it won't work since the pigments won't penetrate the hair keratin (did i say this right lol). i just used it because i think it fit with the mood of the fic + the magic of the forest + the high tension between seungmin and jeongin
> 
> it is never explicitly stated but seungmin is demisexual in this fic, since i just self projected onto him ;~; the confusing feelings he has for hyunjin is kind of like alterous attraction, i think? he just doesn't quite know if he wants to pursue hyunjin in a romantic manner, and so feels a little torn up about it. with jeongin however, he does know that he loves jeongin and that he wants to be with jeongin and therefore, experiences this confusion to a much lesser degree
> 
> dont ask me about the ending scene please Look Away i wrote it at 1am and i didnt know what the Hell and Fuck i was doing but i thought it would be funny and then it rapidly became Not Funny and Highly Charged but all of my works are the same high tension help
> 
> n. ways!!!! thank you for reading to the end of the fic and to the end of this long as hell authors note, i really do hope that youve enjoyed it!! i hope everyone's staying safe and healthy, and i'll see everyone again very very soon !!!


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